Streaking Bengals a tough draw for slumping Texans

The Bengals’ season sack total is just one off the NFL’s best for 2012, and Wallace Gilberry (6 1/2), left, is part of a defensive line that has dominated during Cincinnati’s 7-1 record over the second half of the season. (Michael Keating/Associated Press)

The net result of the Texans’ late-season slide was the worst possible playoff draw, starting Saturday against Cincinnati. Forget the looming hurdles Tom Brady’s Patriots and Peyton Manning’s Broncos present. The Bengals, who must be dealt with first, are no less of a nightmare matchup.

Here’s the problem: Cincinnati does two things extremely well, and they happen to ominously correspond to areas of grave concern for the Texans. The Bengals sack the quarterback a bunch — 51 times, which left them one shy of being part of a three-way tie for the NFL lead — and they are stubbornly obstinate about conceding touchdowns, especially of the aerial variety.

Yet Matt Schaub, having been treated like a piñata of late by far lesser defenses than Cincinnati’s, has found it increasingly difficult to navigate a safe route to the end zone. Ducking and dodging and frequently winding up prone doesn’t do much for a man’s confidence or leadership skills, never mind his QB rating.

Schaub was able to orchestrate all of three touchdown drives on the Texans’ behalf over the last quarter of the season. The Bengals’ defense, in turn, permitted just seven touchdowns over the final half of the regular season, which is only one more than the Texans allowed on a single evening in New England (and against Green Bay, too, earlier in the season).

Baltimore scored a pair of touchdowns on the Bengals on Sunday in what amounted to a glorified practice game with neither team having anything at stake. Dallas was the only other team to manage two TDs in eking out a 20-19 victory, Cincinnati’s lone loss in its last eight games.

So Texans-Bengals II is a collision of teams streaking in opposite directions. The wild-card rematch seems a worst-case convergence of good karma vs. no karma, and even the home-field venue can’t be described as a favorable Texans variable. Facing Minnesota at Reliant Stadium on Dec. 23, they failed to cross the goal line for the first time since the sixth weekend of Gary Kubiak’s seven-year tenure as head coach.

And the Vikings were average at best defensively. Now, the Texans must confront a unit receiver Andre Johnson called “probably the most talented we’ve faced this season.”

Sack masters

Not that anyone could have imagined the Bengals being described thusly in September, when they were giving up 34 points and 417 yards on average after three games. Over 12 quarters, Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington collectively scored 10 touchdowns on the Bengals’ defense.

Then the worm turned. Actually, it got squashed.

“We had some different guys playing through injury,” Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis said. “We lost a wave of guys there. But we were able to get back to being fundamentally sound and really understanding what it was going to take to be successful. Our guys — the defensive group — is very prideful. They continued to play together and believe in each other. (Everybody) is doing a good job of playing within their roles, and they’re getting opportunities. When you’re playing with a lead, that’s going to happen.”

The Texans have mostly been playing from behind since their humiliating trip to New England, which cuts to the core of their recent slippage. A fast start against Cincinnati would lighten everyone’s load. Otherwise, it figures to be another brutally difficult afternoon for the Texans’ offensive line and their quarterback.

Left tackle Duane Brown described Cincinnati’s front four, where most of the Bengals’ sacks come from, as “being relentless guys, very strong, very good at pressing the pocket. The good thing, we’re very familiar with them. We faced them twice last year, so we know exactly what they bring to the table.”

Six Bengals defensive linemen have combined for more than 40 sacks, led by Geno Atkins’ 12½ and Michael Johnson’s 11½. There’s no J.J. Watt in the bunch, but collectively they make for a heavy load.

“We’ve done a pretty good job around here of preventing sacks,” Schaub said. “We got to get back to that.”

Brown admitted he “wasn’t sure how much (Cincinnati’s) defense has changed” from 2011, when the Texans gained 412 yards in the 20-19 AFC South title-clinching victory in Cincinnati and 340 in the 31-10 playoff romp, with then-rookie T.J. Yates subbing for the injured Schaub in both. The biggest difference Brown will notice is hell-on-wheels rookie linebacker Vontaze Burfict, and shutdown corner Leon Hall appears to be his old self after fighting through a torn Achilles tendon that kept him out of Yates’ hair in both games.

“I think that through the season Leon has continued to play better and better,” Lewis said. “Coming back from an Achilles injury is much like an ACL. Those are generally year-plus recovery injuries. So it’s taken time for him to get back.”

Burfict exploits chance

In the Bengals’ cornerback-by-committee system, they also have gotten considerable mileage from Cowboys castoff Terence Newman and the ultimate reformed bad boy, Adam Jones, compensating for the loss of No. 1 draft choice Dre Kirkpatrick, who suffered a season-ending knee injury after only five games.

As for the undrafted Burfict, who came out of college with “character” questions and also turned in a terrible Combine performance, he became Cincinnati’s leading tackler after being thrown into the lineup when starter Thomas Howard went down to a knee injury. The Bengals’ coaches credited him with 23 tackles against the Ravens on Sunday. Right, 23.

“He’s done a great job,” Lewis said. “He’s a guy who was fortunate enough to get an opportunity. As I tell all our (young players), it really doesn’t matter how you got here. He obviously heard that message and has taken full advantage of it.”

Lewis coached one of the greatest defenses ever, Baltimore’s Super Bowl-champion Ravens of 2000, which keeps him measured in his praise of the current Bengals.

“That Ravens defense — no one has ever been as good as that one,” he said. “The group in Baltimore gave up 16 touchdowns in the first 16 games or 17 touchdowns in 20 total games including the playoffs and Super Bowl. I don’t know if anyone will ever do what they did (again). We’re just a young group of guys trying to play hard, and we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us.”

Points hard to come by

Vice versa, from the Texans’ perspective.

“They’re really good,” Kubiak said of the Bengals. “Giving up 12 points a game in the back half of the season. … Boy, that’s incredible in the National Football League. They’ve got an excellent front (and) some very active linebackers. They added (Burfict), who’s made a ton of plays, and the secondary is really different from what we saw last year. They’re playing extremely well. You’re sitting there holding people to 12 points a game — that’s exceptional.”

And a bit unnerving for a team with serious scoring issues.

dale.robertson@chron.com

twitter.com/sportywineguy

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See photos from the Texans’ loss to the Colts in the regular-season finale.